new horizons, UGANDA

Although the income from the sale of the Paper to Pearls jewelry is invaluable, we felt we could do more. The result is Paper to Pearls'™ "New Horizons" Program.

Through New Horizons the majority of the net revenue from the sale of thenecklaces was returned to the camps in the form of education, training andentrepreneurship development.

Now that our beaders were earning substantial income, it was important that theylearn how to manage it. In order to help them stabilize the income they receivedfrom our purchase of their beads, Paper to Pearls provided micro-finance trainingin the form of basic savings and cash management that is essential to thecreation of sustainable businesses.

Since most of the beaders lived in rural areas without ready access to banks,each cooperative maintained a communal savings program. Beaders contributedmoney each month, which was kept in a lock-box and served as a source ofloans the cooperative made to individual members in need of funds. Meanwhile,we encouraged beaders in or near Gulu town to open individual bank accountsand commit to regular deposits on or immediately after market days, when fundswere most readily available.

Behind every beader, there are 30 people who benefit from the income she earns.

— Barbara Moller

In January, 2010, the ceasefire with the Lord’s Resistance Army entered itsfourth year. Signed on August 22, 2006, the cessation of hostilities was initiallyviewed with a combination of guarded hope and skepticism and for a long timeno one left the refugee camps.

As the peace talks dragged on in Juba, Southern Sudan, people waited. Eventually, many began to move to satellite camps, closer to their homesteads but still providing the relative safety that the open land did not. Finally, with rebel leader Joseph Kony and the remainder of the LRA hold up in eastern Congo, the government began applying pressure on the Acholi people to "go home."

In many cases, of course, there was no home to go to or resources with which tobegin again, but the government was intent on quickly emptying the camps. Thedesire for returning things to "normal" hung in the air.

But normal is hard to achieve after more than twenty years of war and displacement. This fact was reflected in our beaders' stories about their lives in a post-conflict world that is only minimally able to provide the support they needed, if at all.

From farm tools to supplies with which to rebuild their homes, from conflictmediation to psychological support (many suffered from post-traumatic stress),people automatically looked to the international organizations that provided aid tothem for so long. Many of these were gone, feeling their work ended with a stableceasefire; others were feeling strapped for funds; some were only beginning tocome to terms with what was needed and their appropriate role.

Through our program, women in the camps learned about their rights, childmothers (those abducted and raped by the rebels) were taught how to start smallbusinesses and displaced youth received vocational skills training. These werejust a few of the ways in which we helped foster the skills that individuals andfamilies could use to remake their lives while they were still in the camps andprovide stability and security once they returned to their homes.

Having an income generating activity is a first for most of our beaders. As stability slowly returns to the region and they are beginning to go home, the women are taking their beading skills with them and will continue to bead and develop their businesses. As beader Rose Oyok says: "Paper to Pearls is part of our lives. We consider it our second garden."

We are convinced that our beaders and their families, and indeed the larger community, are best served by a broad array of opportunities that increase access to both income and independence.